Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
After three o'clock. This is ESBN fifteen thirty on Moeger.
We always enjoy getting on the show in the days
after the draft the men who coached each of the
draft picks at their respective positions in college. And we've
talked a lot about Toaj Brooks this week. And if
you're a UC football fan, you saw what Toaj can
(00:21):
do when the Bearcats played Texas Tech in Lubbick. He
ran for one hundred and seventy two yards and a
couple of touchdowns and was just almost impossible to bring
to the ground that night. And so we wanted to
reach out and chat with the guy who was his
position coach at Texas Tech. He's actually currently the associate
head coach and special teams coordinator at Texas Tech, but
spent the last couple of seasons coaching running backs and
(00:43):
obviously working very closely with Toaj Brooks. So Kenny Perry
nice enough to join us, coach, It's good to have you.
Good afternoon.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
How are you man? Awesome? I appreciate you guys having
me on.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
I appreciate you doing this. So you go to Lubbock
in twenty twenty two, Taj Brooks is there what's the
first thing you remember when you met him for the
first time.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Well, first of all, you know, he's like a bowl
and ball with butcher blades all around him. I'm like, man,
this dude, I'm not sure how good he is. I
kind of remembered him because I've been in Big twelve
and watching him, but you know, he was all right.
And then when I got around him on a daily
day basis in my head, I just knew. I said,
before this kid leaves here, he's going to be one
(01:25):
of the greatest of our conference. And you know I
was right.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Yeah, And the programs all time leading rusher. He was
a workhorse man. I mean you gave it to him
on the ground almost nine hundred times, led the conference
and carries in consecutive years. When did it become abundantly
clear that you guys could ask him to do as
much as you did.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Well, the thing about Todge' that's I think is unique
is he takes care of his body. And when I
say a boy that he's the first guy in the
building when we lived, he's the first guy you know,
when we did medical check cups after games and so,
and he was first time on the field so guys
like that usually going to take care of their body.
Their body can take that punishment. And you know, TODs
(02:09):
just he's so strong. I mean, I don't really think
our strength guys actually know how strong he is, because
they would they would they wouldn't let him. I go
up on some of the stuff he was doing. I
just watch and stuff like that, just because he was
already strong enough, so they didn't really max. But the dude,
he just you could tell he could carry the load.
And you know, we kind of went through U a
(02:31):
rash of quarterbacks, you know, Tyler Schuckbying one of them,
Baron Morton and Donovan you know, we smith, we had
three guys, well we were they're all getting hurt. So
I think we kind of realized, you know, we need
to run the football, and Todge was ideal for that
situation for us.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Uh, let's let's talk about what we would watch if
we were watching film. When you're pointing out to me
why this guy is going to succeed at the next level,
what are we looking at?
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Well, it's the thing that he does that's unbelievable. Like
I kept telling everybody when I talked to the scouts
and I would talk to the media, is he by
far is the best blocker in college football, meaning whether
he's getting the ball past a pass protection for the
quarterback or he's lead walking. He was unbelievable the stuff.
(03:19):
And he's so smart. He knew what our offensive lineman
we're supposed to do, and if he saw a guy
to his side mess up, he knew where the protection
would break down and he would fix it. And I've
been coaching thirty three years and it was unbelievable. I
would like to take credit for that, but I'm not
going to do that him. And he's just he's that serebral,
(03:40):
he's he's a football junkie. He loves getting in there
and watching film with you, and uh, man, I'm just
telling you, you guys are fixed to get a guy
that you're gonna you're gonna turn around in ten years. Going, man,
I can't believe this guy. He is what he is
because he's that he is that unbelievable of a player.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Yeah, uh you know what. A five year guy the
all time leading Russia in Texas Tech history, over a
thousand touches across his college career, so he's kind of
done it all. When you've talked with scouts from other
teams and they ask you, like, all right, give us
one thing that he should focus on that you would
like to see him improve upon. What's your answer to that?
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Well, I definitely think just you know, his past catching ability,
he can catch the ball out of the backfield. We
just didn't do it much. You know, he had some
big plays. But I think to think he's got unbelievable hands,
and I think that you're gonna see once you know,
with the guys, you guys already got there around in
that place. You know, since now he's kind of surrounded
the court fur with that, you know, Todd, Todd's is
(04:43):
gonna be one of those guys out of backfield that
I think. The more that he practiced and does stuff
catching the ball on the backfield, it's it's just gonna
raise his game another you know match.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Uh, what what's described for me? Your your role in
the course of whether it's him or any one of
your guys and getting getting a player like TODs Brooks
ready for the draft, talking with you know, general managers
and scouts and personnel people. How innimally involved have you
been during this process?
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Well, the biggest thing was, you know, everybody that the
knock on Todge Brooks was at two hundred and thirty pounds.
What was just no one. No one said it was
gonna well, he's gonna be a four to seven high
four six high four seven guy. That was the knockoff him,
because if you go back and watch him run, I
think the last two years he made more people miss
the first tackle. You know, the staff they did do.
(05:32):
He made more people missed than anybody in the draft.
So I wouldn't worry about his running gully. It was
just top end speed. And he goes to the combine
and he runs what four five four four five five,
which I'll be honest, it kind of shocked me a
little bit. I knew he would be down, I didn't
think he'd be that fast. So that was my thing was, man,
the hell with what numbers are? This dude is production.
(05:55):
And he did not play behind the greatest offensive line.
Our schemes helped him. You know, kudos to coach was
Actilly for what he did and you know our offensive
coaches just the way that his eyes stuff to get
him the football because we were not really really good
up front. He made a if you watch this film,
he made a lot of guys miss after the line
(06:15):
of scrimmage and turned two and three yard runs into
ten and fifteen yard runs.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
What sort of conversations did you and Taje have after
the twenty twenty three season, because I'm sure he gave
great consideration a turning pro.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Then sure, I just told him, I said, you know what, Taz.
At that time, I honestly thought he was ready to
go to the driver. I really thought he was going
to go. But I also told him, I said, you know,
there's you will obviously wanted to be the elite and
rusher and the dude was the ultimate team player. He's like,
coach man, I want to get I want to get
us a chance to improve this program. And he said,
(06:51):
you know, I know I can break the rushing record
and that was something that he wanted to kind of
do for, you know, hisself in Texas Tech and he's
like the NFL is going to be there. He goes,
I think I can improve my draft bock, you know,
by by coming back. So whether it did or not,
he had kids, an old teams player, and you know,
he had some he had some personal goals that he
(07:12):
wanted to accomplish as well, So my hat was off
to him. I just said, you're matured enough to handle it.
We want you back, And I was sure glad when
he decided to come.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Back as as a university, as Cincinnati fan. I wish
he would have left early because he killed us, but
he was awesome that night and I took note of it.
And so when he came off the board on Saturday,
I thought, there was that dude who just kept getting it.
And he was as strong in the fourth quarter. You
know how close that game was. He was as strong
in the fourth quarter as he was in the first.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
No doubt. That's that's the like I said, That's how
he was all the time though. And the crazy thing
was practice. He would do the same thing and I
would have to say, Okay, Taus, you're done, because that's
how he practices too. I mean, all the coaching, all
the cliches, you guys, you know you hear in this industry,
you know, as hard as all that stuff, this guy,
I'm just telling you, that guy has got every bit
(08:04):
of any cliche you want to tag to him. He
is so I mean, I'm just want to steal. I
cannot I feel after they picked him, I called him
and I was screaming in the phone because I'm why.
I really don't think he could have gone to a
better team that hits what you know, what he does
and how he can help them.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
How cool is that conversation when you get a chance
to talk to one of your guys after they've had
their name called.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
Unbelievable, just like you know, I just for and like
I said, I've coached a bunch of guys, but TODs
Brooks for what he stands for, you know what he means,
his family, God, everything, faith and our program. He's just
such a humble dude. And he just kept saying thanks, coach,
I appreciate everything you did for me, thanks to the program.
I love texts tech, you know, just everything that the
(08:51):
guy was about. He just kept giving thanks to everybody else.
You know. I just think that's so cool in today's time.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Yeah, I would agree with that. I can't thank you
enough for doing this. We love learning about these guys.
And again when his name, when his name slid to
Cincinnati there in the sixth round, I was pretty excited.
Awesome to get a chance to talk to you, coach.
Thanks so much.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Yeah, thank you guys, appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Well, Nata, There you go. There's Kenny Perry. He is
the associate head coach, now coaching special teams. The last
three years, he has been the running backs coach at
Texas Tech. Tage Brooks. Look, man, I'm not a I'm
not one of these like you know, crunch the tape
type dudes. I don't pretend to be an expert. I
just I'm a dude who watches college football. I watched
(09:35):
Taj Brooks in the Big Twelve and look, man, there's
there's there's some tread on the tires. I don't know
what to getting around that. You know, two hundred and
eighty six carries this year to ninety last year, which
I think might have led the entire country. I know
it led the Big Twelve over a thousand touches across
five years. Like, there's there's, as they say, tread on
the tires. But I watched him that night in Lubbock
(09:58):
and he was as good and it's hard to bring
down late in the fourth quarter as he was early
in the first quarter. I think they have a really
good running backs room. We pick apart the draft and
talk about what they haven't done, and you know, be
skeptical about Duke Tobin and the defense and all that
stuff is on the table. I think they've got a
(10:19):
really good running backs room, starting with obviously Chase Brown,
and you know, continuing through samaj p Ryan and even
Zach Moss and Todge Brooks. We'll see, you know. I
I asked Paul Danner Junior. I think it was on
his podcast on Sunday night. We were talking about like
takeaway from the draft, and I said, you know, my guys,
the due they took in the six round. Todge Brooks,
(10:40):
I think he has a really good chance to make
the team. And Paul corrected me and said, no, dude,
he is making the team. And if you go find
any of his college highlights, which you know, you take
some of that stuff with a grain of salt, I
think you'll see why. Brings the dimension that they've kind
of needed. Short yardage, Tough, hard nosed inside runner. Kenny
(11:00):
Perry mentioned his blocking ability. That is obviously something that
has come up at the running back spot in recent years.
Good pick, good pick, good stuff from Kenny Perry. By
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